The Trials of the Lancashire Witches (David & Charles)
The Trials of the Lancashire Witches. A Study of Seventeenth Century Witchcraft by Edgar Peel & Pat Southern, second edition from 1972. The cover typography combines two typefaces that both are quintessentially mid-1960s/early 1970s, and yet couldn’t be farther apart. The italic serif with hippyish swashes is what Mark Simonson refers to as “Sixties Bookman” in the history included in his Bookmania specimen (pdf):
It’s closest to the larger sizes of ATF Bookman Oldstyle, but significantly bolder, with more contrast between the thicks and thins than other Bookmans and with smaller serifs. Sixties Bookman expanded on ATF Bookman’s modest but distinctive swash character repertoire with 25 in the roman and 47 in the italic.
Marvin (1969) by contrast is very much unadorned. It’s made from simple monolinear strokes and has no lowercase, and certainly no swashes. With its technoid look, it became a staple for covers of science fiction books. For contemporary stand-ins, see Marvin Visions and Bookmania.
Paperback edition
Hardcover edition with dust jacket
1 Comment on “The Trials of the Lancashire Witches (David & Charles)”
An unusual choice of ultra-seventies design for David & Charles, who tend to specialise in industrial, folk/rural history and “vanishing traditions” topics: railway and canal history, folk art, and quite sober design. Looking through listings of their books from this period I can’t find any close to this far-out. Very similar to this, though.